I recently flew to Singapore on Singapore Airlines. In India, the ground handling was done by Air India (Star Alliance crew).
At the boarding gate, they announced “random checks.” I stayed back and observed for a bit, and honestly… it didn’t look random at all. On a flight with 25+ foreign passengers: None of the foreigners were picked Indians who looked “posh” weren’t picked either The people pulled aside were mostly darker-skinned Indians. I wasn’t in a hurry, so I just stood there and watched the pattern. It was uncomfortable how obvious it felt.
Fast forward to Singapore: Immigration officers, customs officers, and Singapore Airlines ground crew were warm, polite, professional, and welcoming. No attitude, no suspicion by default behavior.
Coming back to India, the contrast hit again. Out of a Singapore airlines 787 Dreamliner with 300+ passengers, Indian customs pulled me aside along with one other guy (who was just visiting his kids in Singapore)
Meanwhile: A guy right in front of me with two trolleys and flaunting two bottles of whiskey walked straight through without being stopped.
For context: I’m a Telugu guy. While this was happening, the customs lady who stopped me was speaking in Telugu with her colleagues. After the check in the red channel, I politely asked her on what basis passengers are picked for these “random” checks.
Her answer was vague and unconvincing something along the lines of “we’re trained to pick people.” No explanation of criteria, behavior, or indicators. I just smiled, said okay, and left. I’m not against security checks. I understand why they’re needed.
But when “random” checks start looking selective based on appearance rather than behavior it leaves a bad taste.
Is this something others have noticed with Air India ground crew or Indian customs?
Or am I reading too much into it?